This is a 19th century table nutmeg grater with ornamental turning.
The acorn shaped nutmeg grater top made from coquilla nut screws on to the lignum vitae turned base.
The base provides storage space for the nutmegs and can stand alone on a table. Note the domed shaped tin grater, with machine punched rows of teeth, inserted inside a ring-shaped, lathed-bone housing. The technology to punch-out a tin grater surface in a dome shape and with uniform machine-stamped teeth, evolved in England about 1810